


completely straightforward

by ivelostmyspectacles



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: All kinds of consent!, Canon Asexual Character, Canon Bisexual Character, Casual Sex, F/M, M/M, Open Relationships, There's so much consent and happy feelings that you might choke on em!, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-11-02 09:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20697761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/ivelostmyspectacles
Summary: Tim sleeps with Sasha, and Tim sleeps with Martin, and Tim doesn't sleep with Jon, and they're all good, they're fine, they're happy.aka Tim is not here for the Monogamous Life and everything is Good





	completely straightforward

“D’you think Jon’s just _ strictly _ straight?”

All things considered, Sasha had every right to laugh. Actually, she had every right to be offended, but Sash wasn’t like that. _ They _ weren’t like that, actually. And, hey, Tim was curious. Too damn curious for his own good, really. Then again, that was pretty much how he’d ended up here, so, no complaints.

“You’re really asking me this _ now?” _ Sasha asked. Her head was settled on Tim’s chest, and she tilted her chin up to look up at him. “Have you been thinking about this the whole time we were shagging?”

“No,” he said defensively. “I mean, it comes and goes, but _ no. _ I was thinking about how good you look. And how I think I put bruises on your hips, sorry about that.”

“Yeah, sure you are.” She rolled her eyes, and settled back in to get comfortable again. “You love it, and you know it. You’d put marks over every inch of my body if I gave you the chance.”

“I’m _offended.”_ He clapped a hand to his heart. “I just didn’t want you to fall over, and this is how I get repaid?”

“You didn’t want me to fall off your prick, you mean. Which I wasn’t going to. How could I even _ do _ that?”

“I knocked you off your feet before.”

“That was one goddamn time, Timothy Stoker,” she said, swatting at his hand. “And it was your fault for suggesting doing it standing.”

“It was good, though,” Tim pointed out.

Sasha sighed, but she was smiling. “Yeah, yeah, I remember.”

“Seriously, though. Jon?” It wasn’t leaving his head. “I heard he had a girlfriend in uni.”

“I heard that, too,” Sasha said. “Which actually does kind of surprise me? But she must have been important to him. If it’s true.”

“You think it’s not?”

Sasha shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know, Tim, I don’t know him that well. He’s a good guy. Awkward, and he’s useless with computers. But he also doesn’t seem like the type to make emotional connections easily, so if he ever _ has _ dated someone, they had to be important to him.”

“And you keep pointedly avoiding saying _ she _ and _ her, _ so you _ do _ think he might be into other genders!”

“I’m just _ saying, _ he doesn’t seem like the type to be into _ anyone. _ So I don’t know. Why?” She tilted her head to look at him again, and Tim compensated by slipping his fingers into her hair to comb through it. God, he loved her hair, long enough that it fell past her waist now. “You wanna fuck him?”

“Maybe?” His turn to shrug. “He’s a bit posh, but his voice is nice.”

“Oh my God.”

“I’m a man of refined tastes, Sash,” he said, very matter-of-fact. “I like a good voice and capable hands.”

“And dick,” she added.

“And– well, _ yeah. _ And curves,” he added. Tim slipped his hand from her hair to her stomach, splaying his fingers and passing his thumb along her breastbone. “Girls have curves. And tits.” That hand wandered to the swell of breast he’d left a hickey on earlier. She was right about the love bites and stuff. “I love me some good curves and tits, too.”

“Well, thank God for that, huh.”

“Yeah, this’d be _ real _ awkward otherwise? Imagine me sleeping with you _ if _ I wasn’t attracted to your body.” No, he really wasn’t _ that _ shallow.

But Sasha took the bait, like she always did, laughing in the way Tim had grown accustomed to on the occasional foray outside of work. She was good like that. _ They _ were good like that. “Here I thought you were sleeping with me because of my charming personality!” she said.

There were plenty of women at the Institute. If anything, Elias didn’t seem like he was keen on following that old stereotype of a bunch of stuffy old men puttering about in the archives, and God, Tim was thankful for that. But he always ended up coming back to Sasha. She’d caught his eye pretty early on when he’d come and go through artefact storage, and… it had just coalesced from there.

They didn’t _ always _ meet up for a casual shag, but boy, when they _ did… _so yeah, they were good.

Tim laughed, and settled his arm around her shoulders to pull her in. “Something like that,” he relented, and held her close.

“I feel like I’m using you,” Martin blurted, and Tim’s hand slipped off from where he’d been drawing idle patterns against Martin’s bare arm.

“What?” He could tell you how many times someone had said that to him in his life. None. It was none. No one had ever said that to him. “Whaddaya mean?”

“For sex,” Martin muttered. The blush had faded a long while ago, but Tim thought he was starting to look pink beneath his freckles again. “And I– I don’t want to, I don’t want to _ do _ that to you–”

“Martin.” Tim shoved up, propping his elbow on the bed so he could just _ look _at him. “What are you talking about?”

Martin didn’t look at him. His eyes were on the ceiling, hair mussed adorably on the pillow. “You know what I’m talking about. You know. _ Everyone _ knows.”

“Does everyone know we’re fucking?” Not that he minded.

“No, that’s– _ I _ haven’t mentioned–” Martin stammered, and then took a breath to seemingly get himself back on topic. “Just… this,” he said, pathetically, and gestured between the two of them.

“What about it?”

Martin actually glared, just a little bit. “You _ know.” _

“I’m not _ actually _ a mindreader, Martin.”

Oh, he knew. But he also believed in the power to communicate when you were, you know, _ having sex regularly, _ sooo…

Martin wasn’t so good at that, though. Probably a self-confidence issue. “Nevermind,” he muttered, throwing his arm over his eyes like he could hide away and forget the aborted conversation that easily.

Tim’d take pity on him. “You’re not taking advantage of me,” he said, flopping down again. He draped his arm around his stomach and curled in because goddamn, Martin was probably one of the _ best _ people to cuddle, _ ever. _ “Seriously.”

“But I _ am,” _ Martin said. His voice came out weak. “Because you know that I– I’m–”

“Would rather be fucking Jon?” Tim said, a little dry on purpose, and felt the tension coalesce and nearly snap from Martin. Plus the wave of guilt and sadness that he could practically feel, too. “Martin, I don’t _ care _ if you think about fucking Jon. _ I _think about fucking Jon. Who doesn’t think about fucking Jon?”

“But it’s not just–”

“Yeah, I know,” Tim interrupted. “You like him. That’s cool, I’m glad. A little sorry for you, cause he’s _ hopeless, _ but crushes are good, nice. Usually.” He shrugged. “But I’m definitely a-okay with being your placeholder.”

Somehow, Martin managed to look _ more _ stricken. “You’re not my _ placeholder–” _

“But I am,” he interrupted, “at least a little bit. _ You _ think so, anyway, or we wouldn’t be having a conversation about how you feel _ guilty.” _

“I– Oh, G–God. I’m just–” He dropped his hands from his face. “I’m not _ good _ at casual stuff. I’m not– I just don’t know how to _ do _ it. And I _ like _ you, Tim, I really, _ really _ like you, you’re my friend, I don’t want to _ hurt _ you–”

A rare thing to be told, too. Martin was on top form tonight.

“You know I sleep with Sasha, right?”

Martin stopped, tilting his head to look at him. A little suspicious. “Yeah…?”

“And that’s casual.”

“Yeah…?”

“Technically, I’m doing worse than you are, _ you _ aren’t _ actually _ sleeping with anyone else, just thinking about it. So if anyone should feel bad–”

“No,” Martin interrupted quickly, like Tim knew he would. _ “You _don’t have to feel bad–”

“So why should you?”

“It’s… it’s different.”

“How?”

“Because.”

“Because you actually have feelings for him and it’s not just casual fucking?” Tim guessed, and Martin winced. Right on the money.

“I… I guess,” he said begrudgingly.

“Well, that’s okay, too. Hell, Martin, I don’t think you _ hate me _ or anything.”

“Of _ course _ not!”

“And we decided on the parameters of this when we started having sex,” Tim added. “We’re casual. Which means we see other people. Fuck other people. Fall in love with other people.” He didn’t know much about the latter, but maybe one day. “So the only way you could really hurt me right now is by continuing to feel _ guilty _ for doing exactly what we said we were gonna do. Cause I really, _ really _ don’t want you feeling bad when we have sex.”

“I don’t, the sex is… g–great,” Martin said, bashful, and wasn’t that shit the cutest? “I like it. A lot. And the, er, company is nice,” he admitted softly, “so I do _ like _ it, it’s just–”

“Then don’t _ overthink _ it. You’re not using me. We’re just using each other, in the way that we said we were gonna. And we both like it, and enjoy it, and that’s _ all. _ It’s really that simple, Martin.”

“I… are you sure…?”

_ “Positive.” _ He leaned in a little closer to _ look _ again. “Believe me?”

Martin looked back, for a long moment, still a little miserable but maybe a little… relieved. Relaxed again. “Yeah… yeah, okay. Tell me if it changes, though? _ Please. _ Don’t spare me because I’m in love with someone who won’t love me back.”

“I promise, Martin,” he said, purposefully monotone, “that I’ll tell you if I ever get tired of having sex with you.” 

“I’m serious.”

_ “I’m _serious,” he retorted. “Now, come on. Guilt-free blow job?”

“You– Jesus,” Martin said, and _ laughed, _ just a little.

“Hey, gotta make you feel good after you made yourself feel bad,” Tim said.

“I…” He was definitely blushing, now. “… I’d like that, yeah,” he said, softly, and Tim grinned as he ducked beneath the blankets.

“You know I’m not inclined towards sex, yes?”

Tim blinked, startled enough to not even have the wherewithal to pause his app. He watched as his avatar took damage and then died, and the noises of mages casting magic finally stopped echoing from his phone’s speakers as the screen confirmed that, yes, he was dead. He swiped the app away, and looked down at the top of Jon’s head. “I’m sorry?”

It was just so very apropos of nothing, really; yeah, he’d invited Jon over, no, they had never had sex, and _ no, _ it wasn’t _ really _ on his mind when he was just trying to level up his wizardry skills.

“Sex.” Jon didn’t look up from his own phone. (Tim had glanced over his shoulder awhile ago. He was _ working. _ And he was _ still _ working. Because he just couldn’t leave well enough alone.) “I’m not particularly interested.”

“O…… kay?”

It _ was _ the first time he’d gotten a _ statement _ about it, but, well, he’d… kind of figured? Jon was hesitantly romantic, clumsy with kissing but good with close contact in Tim’s regard, and… yeah, Tim had thought about bonking him, but it just haaaadn’t really come up. And when it hadn’t come up, he just… had this base assumption that it wasn’t going to. And that was fine. It was _ different, _ because he’d never been in a nonsexual ‘relationship’ and he hadn’t thought it was in the cards, but… Jon just had a way. And it was nice.

“You thrive on sexual relationships.” Jon looked up, turning his head to catch Tim’s eye over his shoulder. “So, to be honest, I’m not particularly sure why you keep inviting me over unless it’s in _ hopes _ of having relations.”

“Having…” Tim sighed. He’d let that go. “Nah.” He draped his arm across Jon’s chest, letting him lean a bit further back against his shoulder. This was intimate in its own way, Jon leaning against him, legs stretched out across the sofa while Tim played his stupid little game and Jon did research. And that… wasn’t really what he’d expected from himself, calling _ this _ intimate, when _ being intimate _ was having your balls breathed on, but… “I invite you over because I like _ this. _ If I was propositioning you, I’d _ actually _ proposition you, boss.”

“It just seems… unlike you.”

“What’s _ that _ mean?”

“It means you’re interested in more than _ this,” _ Jon clarified, pressing back into Tim’s shoulder. “Except we may never do that, so it’s a colossal waste of time.”

“Woah, woah, _ hold _ on, let _ me _ decide what’s a waste of time for me.” Tim frowned at the top of Jon’s head, and the way the damp was starting to curl his hair as it dried from the shower. “I like it, so it’s not a waste of time. You like it?”

“Mm.”

“That was a question, Jon.”

“Oh, sorry. Yes, I do. More than…” He looked away from his phone again, towards the far wall. “More than I expected,” he admitted, after clearing his throat. “But–”

“God, between you and Martin, I dunno– look, I know I like sex. I _ really _ like casual relationships, sure. And I’ve thought about sex with you. Yeah. I’ve also thought about stabbing Elias in the eye, but, like, those are just _ things. _ And you also gotta understand that I don’t really ever get to do _ this? _ I’ve never been able to just be like, ‘hey, boss, let’s get curry and take a shower and watch Netflix until we pass out on the sofa, no shagging required.’ So, yeah, no ‘but’s. This is _ really _ nice, okay?”

And that was the best way he could explain his feelings, not quite romantic but also not quite platonic. The same way he felt about Sasha or Martin, except they were his fuck buddies (and normal, non-fuck buddies in the meantime) and Jon was just a… cuddle buddy. A lazy makeout buddy. A in-no-way-do-I-want-to-settle-down-and-be-monogamous-but-I-don’t-want-to-lose-this-either buddy.

Yeah, different, a little complicated, but that was okay. As long as they were happy, he didn’t think about it too much.

“… yeah. Yes.” Jon nodded, looking back at his phone. “It is… nice.”

“So you’re okay with all this, then?”

“I’m… relieved, actually,” Jon admitted. “Glad.”

“Me, too,” Tim said, and squirmed about on the couch so he could pull Jon back against his chest to hold, instead.

**Author's Note:**

> happy bi week! best bicon Timothy Stoker! I've always loved Tim/Sasha and that's one I haven't gotten to explore. And what better time than than bi week! what better time to explore all the ships!!
> 
> I hope Tim's happy, wherever he is 🚣😘😘😘
> 
> also yes the title's a pun hurr

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] completely straightforward](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21959803) by [GoLBPodfics (GodOfLaundryBaskets)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodOfLaundryBaskets/pseuds/GoLBPodfics)


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